Literary analysis: This passage can be better understood in other translations.
Gileadi’s translation of this passage is:
Woe to those who are valiant at drinking wine
And champions at mixing liquor! (Gileadi, p. 105).
The NIV has:
Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine
And champions at mixing drinks.
Each of these make the parallels easier to see than the KJV. While the KJV “the mighty/men of strength” is the same kind of similarity, the best translation for preserving the contrast is the NIV’s “heroes/champions.” This paralleling of the set of champions, or mighty men, contrasts the expectation with the result. More is expected of a hero or a champion, and yet rather than deeds to match their stature, they are not merely experts in wine and strong drink.
As with verse 11, the condemnation is not specifically the drinking, but the social status of those who are able to do so. The condemnation is not the drinking, but the waste of the potential of these powerful men. This is another reversal of expectation. These are the men who should have produced fruit for the master of the vineyard, and yet produce the wild grape. The literary contrast echoed in the literal wine that these men produce, rather than the spiritual wine that should have been the result of the master’s vineyard.